Sewing machine



Original Filed March l, 1932 F. ASHWORTH SEWING MACHNE 5 Sheets-Sheen'I l Dec. 3, 1935.` F. AsHwoRTH 2,022,754

SEWING MACHNE Original Filed March l, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 102 7m/anim @y VW? Dec. 3, 1935. F. AsHwoRTl-i 2,022,754

SEWING MACHINE Original Filed March l, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Dec. 3, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE SEWING MACHINE Fred Ashworth, Wenham,

Mass., assignor to Original applications March 1, 1932, Serial 596,051, and November 23, 1933, Serial No.

699,341. Divided 9, 1934, Serial N0.

9 Claims.

ie present invention relates to shoe machines and is herein disclosed as embodied in a machine adapted for use in the manufacture oi stitchdown shoes to stitch the welt to the outturned upper and outsole of a shoe.

The present application is a division of the appli-eants cop-ending application Serial No. 596,- 951, iiled March 1, 1932, and also contains divisional subject-matter from applicants copending application Serial N o. 699,341, filed November 23, 1933.

The pricipal object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved welt cutting mechanism in a welt attaching machine of this or similar character for operating on a shoe provided with a welt running completely around the shoe which will act instantaneously when tripped into operation to sever the welt yand thus permit an accurate determination of the position of the cut to form a joint with the leading end of the attached welt at the conclusion of the welt attaching operation.

It is another object of the present invention to provide novel and improved means for enabling the operator accurately to measure the amount of new welt passed through the welt guide to provide a suflicient length of welt for the beginning of a new sewing operation.

With these and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, a principal feature of the invention consists in the provision with a spring actuated knife of a toggle connection which is arranged when tripped to permit the knife to be moved downwardly instantaneously under the pressure of its spring and sever the welt.

Another feature of the invention consists in the provision of a novel and improved trip mechanism including a feeler which is actuated by engagement with the leading end of the attached welt to actuate the knife and is constructed and arranged to be positioned automatically with relation to the other parts of the shoe during the transfer of the operation around the shoe sole to prevent any possibility that the nger will be tripped prematurely to sever the welt.

The several features of the present invention consist also in the combinations and arrangement-s oi parts hereinafter described and claimed which, together with the advantages to be obtained thereby will be readily understood by one skilled in the art from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a View in front elevation of the machine head; Fig. 2 is a detail 'view in right side elevation on an enlarged scale and this application October of the welt cutting device; Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 2 with one fork of the knife actuating lever and the toggle release broken away to show underlying parts; Fig. 4 is a plan view of the knife -actuating lever and the latch for holding the knife in inoperative position shown in Figs. 2 and 3,' Fig. 5 is a view in front elevation of the welt cutting device with the feeler withdrawn from the work; Fig. 6 is a View similar to Fig. 5 with the feeler depressed into operative engagement with the work; Fig. 7 shows the operation oi' the cutting device to sever the welt upon engagement of the feeler with the leading end of the welt; Fig. 8 is a detail view partly in section of the feeler member for actuating the welt cutting mechanism and the slide on which it is mounted; Fig. 9 is a sectional View taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8; Fig. lO is a detail perspective View on an enlarged scale of the sliding support for the feeler member shown in Figs. 8 and 9; and Figs. l1 to 15inclusive illustrate a modified form of welt guidingand cutting mechanism in which the automatic trip mechanism controlled by the advance of the shoe has been removed, and manually operable control devices substituted, Fig. l1 being a detail view in right side elevation of the cutter and toggle support, Fig. l2 being a plan View of the parts shown in Fig. 11, Fig. 13 being a detail view in front elevation of the cutter and toggle support with the toggle in straightened position, Fig. 14 being a view similar to Fig. 13 with the toggle broken to sever the Welt, and Fig. l5 being a detail View partly in section of the welt guide to illustrate the welt measuring device.

As has been stated, the present invention is dis.- closed in the drawings as embodied in a sewing machine adapted to stitch the welt to the outturned upper and sole of a stitchdown shoe supported upon a last. In the machine shown, the operating parts including the needle and awl, a looper, a thread nger and a shuttle are so arranged that the work is fed to the machine in an upright position, the construction and operation of these parts and other parts of the machine not hereinafter specifically described being the same as the corresponding parts. of the machine disclosed in applicants copending application Serial No. 596,051.

The welt guiding and cutting mechanism which forms more specically the subject-matter of the present invention, is similar in many respects to that disclosed in the applicants Patent No, 1,774,498, dated September 2,' 1930. The presser foot is generally indicated at I6 in Fig.

1 formed on a curved member I8 which is supported at its ends on the upwardly extending arms of a forked presser foot bar 25]. The welt cutting mechanism is supported integrally with the presser foot mechanism of the machine, and comprises a cutter member 59 which is mounted to slide in a slot 52 in a bracket 54 formed integrally with the member i8 which carries the presser foot I6. The cutter member 5% is arranged to intersect a guideway 5l formed on the under side of the member I8 through which therwelt strip is fed at an angle to form a bevelled end to the welt. A cover platee-6I lscrewed to the bracket 54 serves to close the slot 52 and the lower end of the guideway to hold these elements in position. At its upper end the cutter member 50 is connected to one arm t@ of a bifurcated cutter actuating lever 62 secured to a short rock shaft 6h". which is jcurnalled in Va bearing formed in the right hand fork of the presser foot 'bar 20 as viewed from the front of the machine. A heavy spring 61 coiled about the bearing for the rock shaft 64 and engaging at one end with va pin on thelever 62, tends at all times to depress the lever t2 and cutter member 5e to sever the welt. As in the applicants patent above referred to, the lever 62 is held in a raised position normally during the operation of the machine through mechanism which is arranged to engage with the second arm G3 of the bifurcated lever 62 to prop the lever and cutter member 5i) in raised position, and is arranged when rendered operative to permit the lever 62 and knife 5@ to fall under the pressure of the spring 61 and sever the welt.

YIn accordance with one feature of the present invention, a novel and improved mechanism is herein disclosed for holding the lever 82 in its raised position which may be instantaneously and easily tripped to sever the welt and will at the same time provide a safe and sure support for the lever 62 and knife during the transfer of the operation about theV shoe. The supporting mechanism referred-to comprises a toggle lever which consists of a link 'I2 punched to receive the tapered end ofthe arm B8, and a link l!! pivotally connected to the link l2, and at its lower end Yto the presser foot bar 2B. The toggle links 'I2 and Thi are normally held in a straightened position as shown in Fig. 6, with surfaces 'I6 formed respectively on the toggle links 12 and 'I4 in engagement by means of a small spring 'I8 connected at one end to the presser foot bar 20, and at its other end to the toggle link 'IILV In a preferred form of the present construction, an automatically acting trip mechanism is provided comprising a feeler member 'i0 which is arranged for engagement with the leading end of the attached welt on the shoe to break the toggle connection and sever the welt at a point which will cause the two ends of the welt to t together in a smooth appearing joint. The feeler member 'l is pivotally secured to a vertically movable slide B, and is provided at its upper end with a laterally `olfset butt 32 which is: arranged in the depressed or operative position of the feeler member It to contact with the upper end of 'the toggle link l2, soy that the movement of the feeler member 'It about its pivot upon engagement with the leading end of the welt will cause the butt 82 to engage with and rotate the togglelink l2 to break thertoggle and permit the lever 62 and cutter member 5D to descend under the pressure of the spring 61 to sever the l welt. The feelerlmember 'lil is normally held in a vertical position out of contact with the toggle member 'I2 in engagement with a pin B6 on the slide 8B by means of a small spring 84. The slide may be locked in raised or inoperative position during the normal operation of the machine 5 to prevent an accidental operation of the welt cutter, by engagement of a latch B3 pivotally mounted on the arm 60 of the cutter actuating lever 62 with a projecting nub 90 on the upper end of theY slide i, and is released by the oper- 10 ator to permit the slide 8! and the feeler lil to be depressed into operative position toward the end of the sewing operation, by means of a laterally extending manually operable lever arm Y e2 formed on the hub of the latch 88. 15

With the present construction, the feeler member 'I0 for automatically tripping the welt cutter, is constructed and arranged to permit an automatic adjustment of the feeler member vertically in accordance with variations in the thick- 20 ness of the shoe sole, and laterally to conform to the contours of the shoe upper, to eliminate the possibility that the finger will be actuated prematurely by contact with some part o the shoe to cut the welt. in order to secure a sensitive vertical adjustment of the feeler member nl in accordance with the thickness of the shoe sole, the slide 35 is mounted to move relatively to a second slide 94'which is in turn mounted for vertical movement on a supporting 30 bracket 96 formed on the forked portion of the presser foot bar 20. The slide 8B is cut away on its rear side to receive the slide 94, and is provided with a downwardly Yextending tongue Q8 which engages with a corresponding track 35 formed in the rear side of the slide 94. The slide Elfi is also grooved to receive two laterally extending trunnions or bars which engage with corresponding slots |02 in the bracket S6. A light spring We seated in a recess IE6 in the bracket 40 and engaging at its lower end with a pin I on the tongue 98, tends to move the slide downwardly to hold the feeler member 'I0 in yielding contact with the work. In order to secure an automatic lateral adjustment of the feeler member 45 to conform to the contours of the shoe upper, the lower end of the feeler member is formed as a separate member Ili which is hinged at II2 on a bracket I i3 on the member id to move rearwardly away from the shoe, and is normally held 50 in a straightened position by a small compression spring iid inserted-between the lower endV of the slide 8l] and the hinged member Iii). The work engaging parts IIEI of the feeler member i8 is also adjustable longitudinally in the line of 55 feed to permit a close adjustment of the timing in `the operation of the cutting knife with relation to the leading end of the Welt, so that a tight joint may be formed betweenthe two ends of the welt. To this end the bracket II3 is 60 mounted to swing in the line of feed about the pivot IIS on which the feeler member 'I9 is mounted to turn, and is held adjustably in position by means of a clamping screw I Il which extends through a transverse slot IIS in the mem- 65 ber 1G, and is threaded into the bracket l i3.

The cutter actuating lever 62 is automatically raised upon starting the machine to raise the cutter knife 56 out of the path of the welt, and to reset the toggle links in straightened position by 7 0 extending arm |22 secured to one end of the rock 75" shaft 64. The lever ||6 is-rocked in the starting of the machine to cause the surface |20 to engage with and rock the arm |22 and shaft 64 to move the lever arm 62 and cutter 50 to their raised position where they are held by the locking of the toggle links l2 and 14. For the details of the operation of this mechanism for resetting the toggle, reference may be had to the applicants pending application Serial No. 596,051 above referred to.

The trip mechanism herein disclosed for holding the lever S2 and welt knife 56 in a. raised position and for tripping these parts to instantaneously sever the welt, is also well adapted for manual operation to enable the operator to sever the Welt at the exact point desired during the continued operation of the machine. A modied form of the present structure to provide a manually operable trip mechanism, is illustrated in Figs. 11 to 15 inclusive of the drawings, the parts illustrated being substantially those previously described with the feeler mechanism removed and a manually operable trip lever substituted therefor. In Figs. 11 and 12 the cutter member 50 is i mounted to slide in a guideway |30 formed integrally with the presser foot member I8 to sever the welt at an angle to produce aslanting cut across the welt as previously described. The cutter 5G is attached at its upper end to one arm 6D of the cutter actuating lever by means of an angle member |32 which is secured to the upper end of the cutter, and arranged to engage in the slotted end of the lever arm 60. 'Ihe toggle connection previously described is utilized for maintaining the knife 50 and actuating lever in a raised position comprising the link '|2 punched to receive the tapered end of an arm 62 of the lever, and connected to a second toggle link 'I4 which is pivotally mounted on the presser foot bar 20. 'I'he toggle is normally held in its straightened position by means of the small spring 18 to support the knife 50 and actuating lever in their raised position against the pressure of the heavy spring el. With the modified construction illustrated in Figs. ll to 15 inclusive, a hand trip lever |34 is secured to the upper link l2 of the toggle tol enable the operator conveniently to break the toggle and trip the welt knife into operation at the exact point referred to. It will readily be seen with this construction that while the toggle lever operates as above pointed out, to provide a sure and firm support for the welt cutting knife 50 and spring-pressed actuating lever 60, a gentle pressure on the hand lever |34 will operate instantaneously to break the toggle and sever the Welt.

There is also provided with the modied construction, as best illustrated in Fig. 15 of the drawings, a measuring device to enable the operator to conveniently and accurately advance the leading end of the welt to the exact position required for the starting of a new seam. This mechanism comprises a tube |36 which is mounted for a limited sliding movement on a welt guide |38 forming a rearward extension of the guideway 51 on the member I8 and in its rear position extends a predetermined distance beyond the end of the welt guide |38. The movement of the tube |3o` on the Welt guide |38 in each direction is limited by the engagement of a projection |40 on the forward end of the tube with the corresponding slot M2 in the guideway |38. A tension spring |44 connected at one end to the tube, and at its other end to the machine frame, tends to hold the tube normally in a fully extended position. When it is desired to feed the additional welt through the welt guide preparatory to starting a new seam, the operator grasps simultaneously the rear end of the tube and the welt, and advances the tube and the welt to the forward limit of movement of the tube, as shown in the dotted line position 5 return to its normal full line position as shown l0` in Fig. 15 under the pressure of its spring IM.

The invention having been described, what is claimed is:

1. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitching devices for sewing welt progressively to 15 the outturned upper and sole of a stitch-down shoe positioned on a last, a welt guide, a knife to cut the welt to form a joint with the leading end of the welt, spring means for actuating the knife to cut the welt, toggle members larranged in 20 straightened position to maintain the knife in retracted position against the pressure of the spring, and a trip member adapted when rendered operative to break said toggle to secure a substantially instantaneous cutting of the welt. 25"] 2. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitching devices for sewing welt progressively to the outturned upper and sole of a stitch-down shoe positioned on a last, a welt guide, a knife to cut the welt to form a joint with the leading end 30 of the welt, means for actuating the knife, and a feeler mechanism comprising a slide movable transversely of the line of feed, a feeler member pivotally mounted thereon actuated by contact with the leading end of the Welt to render said 35 means active to cut the welt, and means for adjusting the position of the work engaging portion of the lfeeler member longitudinally of the line of feed.

3. A sewing machine having, in combination, 40

stitching devices for sewing welt progressively to the outturned upper and sole of a stitch-down shoe positioned on a last, a welt guide, a knife to cut the Welt to form a joint with the leading end of the welt, a spring-pressed member arranged when rendered operative to actuate the knife, a toggle connection maintained normally in straightened position to hold said member and knife in inoperative position, and a feeler member actuated by contact with the leading end of the welt to break said toggle connection to permit the opeation of said member and knife to cut the wel 4. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitching devices for sewing welt progressively to the outturned upper and sole of a stitch-down shoe positioned on a last, a welt guide, a knife to out the welt to form a joint with the leading end of the welt, means for actuating the knife, a feeler member actuated by contact with the leading end of the welt to render said means active to cut the Welt, and means permitting movement of the feeler member laterally of the shoe sole upon contact with the upper. 65

5. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitching devices for sewing welt progressively to the outturned upper and sole of a stitch-down shoe positioned on a last, a welt guide, a knife to cut the Welt to form a joint with the leading end 7 O ment of :the work engagingportion of said- 'feelerf memberupon contact with the. shhek upper;

6. VA sewing machine having-incombination,- stitchingsdevicespfor sewing welt progressively to the outturned upper/and soleof a-stitch-down shoe positioned on a last; a welt guide; a knife 5to' eut the welt'to form a joint with the leadingend` of the welt, means foractuating. the knife, and a feeler mechanism comprising a block vlaterallysupported to slide in bearings in the machineV frame, aslde mounted on the blockftoslide in the direction of movement of the block with relation thereto, a feeler member mounted on the slide arranged upon contact withtheilead-ing-end of the welt to,r :render said-knife actuating..meansactive to cut the welt, and,fspringfmeans,rior oon-trolling. the positionofttl'iey slide tomaintainaf. light engaging contactof `the feelerwiththe workf..

7 .A sewing Ymachine having, ,in, combination,. stitching devices for sewing.,we1t .progressively to., the outturnedupper. and ,soiev of, a. stitch-,down

cut the weit toiorm ajoint withthe leadingend of the welt, springmeansior `actuating theknife to cut' the weit, toggle members arranged,` in. straightened position to maintain the knife in retracted position against the pressure of the spring, and a manually operable member to break said.

straightened position to maintain the knife in re- 10,`

tractedposition against the pressure of the spring, andrea-,manually operable trip member formed on one of said toggle .members,for-breakingfthe tog-V gie to securea'substantiallyjnstantaneous cutting of. the Welt. l5;

9; A sewingfmachine having, in combination, stitching.` devices forisewinga welt to themargin of afshoe; a Welt guide, a-,welt-cntting knife to sever thewelt at thesend-ofan'operation on a shoefanda-measuringfmember mounted on the 20.

welt guidefora limitedmovement in the direction of feed of-the welt vand :arranged `to permit the operator` to simultaneously grasp the welt and said vmemberrtol measure-the amount of new welt passed. throughithe .welt guidenby the operator to 25` position the leading end ofwthe welt for anew sewing-operation. i

FRED ASHWORTH. 

